1964 - The Rolling Stones made their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. So many people complained (they hadn't washed their hair! Mick Jagger wore a sweatshirt!). A riot broke out in the studio, prompting Sullivan’s infamous quote, ‘I promise you they’ll never be back on our show again.’ The Rolling Stones went on to make a further five appearances on Sullivan’s show between 1965 and 1969.
1968 - The New Yardbirds perform for the first time under their new name Led Zeppelin at a gig at Surrey University, England.
1968 - The original release of the Jimi Hendrix Experience double album Electric Ladyland caused a bit of a stir. The cover featured Jimi surrounded by naked women. It is now a collectors item. But about the music...
Jimi Hendrix's third and final album with the original Experience found him taking his funk and psychedelic sounds to the absolute limit. The result was not only one of the best rock albums of the era, but also Hendrix's original musical vision at its absolute apex. The highlights speak for themselves: "Crosstown Traffic," his reinterpretation of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower," "Burning of the Midnight Lamp," the spacy "1983...(A Merman I Should Turn to Be)," and "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)," a landmark in Hendrix's playing. (Photo by DANIEL LEAL/AFP via Getty Images)
1975 - Paul Simon issues, Still Crazy After All These Years. Still Crazy found him working for the most part with a group of jazz-pop New York session players, though he did do a couple of tracks with the Muscle Shoals rhythm section. Of course the song, "My Little Town" also marked a return to working with Art Garfunkel. A bit of a post-divorce album, its songs swinging between smug self-satisfaction and romantic disillusionment. But such sentiments were undercut by humor and made palatable by musical hooks.
1991 - The renowned concert promoter Bill Graham, who ran the Fillmore and Fillmore East venues, dies in a helicopter crash returning home from a Huey Lewis and the News concert. Graham, 60, provided a more intimate and elegant concert experience with improved sound and even light shows. Some of his bigger productions included The Band's "Last Waltz" final concert and the Grateful Dead's New Year's Eve shows.
2010 - Reggae musician Gregory Isaacs dies at age 59. Virtually invented the genre, Lover's Rock, his essential song is Night Nurse.
2014 - Jack Bruce of Cream died at age 71. Although a rock & roll musician, blues and jazz were what he really loved. As a result, those two genres were at the base of most of the recorded output from a career that went back to the beginning of London's blues scene in 1962. Best known as the bassist in Cream, the legendary blues-rock trio he formed with drummer Ginger Baker and guitarist Eric Clapton.
Birthdays:
Richard Lloyd, guitarist with Television, is 71. The group's debut album, Marquee Moon, is often considered one of the defining releases of the punk era.
Drummer Chad Smith of Red Hot Chili Peppers (and doppelganger of Will Ferrell) is 61.
On This Day In Music History was sourced from Allmusic, This Day in Music, Song Facts and Wikipedia.